


When the Snow Falls

by mistleto3



Series: Beginnings [7]
Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Christmas, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Mikototsu Week 2016, Red Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8803051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistleto3/pseuds/mistleto3
Summary: The first time Mikoto and Tatara celebrate Christmas together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For [MikoTotsu week 2016](http://mikototsuism.tumblr.com/post/153827312248/welcome-to-mikototsu-week-2016-holiday), day 3: Decorations
> 
> Okay so this is going to end up being part 11 of this series (if we're counting in terms of chapters, so like part 7 or 8 in terms of actual fics depending on what I decide to lump together) and I know I’ve technically only gotten up to like part 6 of this series but I rly wanted to do something with it for mikototsu week, so I’m posting it a little prematurely and the chapters that are supposed to come before it will go up when I’ve finished them.
> 
> This fic can also be found on [Tumblr](http://mistleto-3.tumblr.com/post/154267229129/beginnings-part-11)

The windows of Mikoto’s bedroom above the bar were flung open, and the quiet hum of the traffic drifted in with the freezing air. It was still early, so the dawn light filtering in between the half-open curtains was weak and watery, pooling in a strip on the floorboards. Aside from that, the room would have been almost completely dark if it weren’t for the ropes of fairy lights coiled around every surface, tangles of white stars brightening and dimming in a slow rhythm, almost seeming to breathe. In the corner of the room, yet more of the lights adorned a small Christmas tree (which Tatara had pestered Mikoto for a month about before he gave in and allowed him to get one), and the light glittered off the dozens of origami butterflies that Tatara and Anna had crafted from shiny red and gold paper and nestled amongst the needles. The air was infused with the scent of the pine, along with the faint hint of the spiced apple scented candle that had burned down and snuffed out in its own melted wax overnight.

Tatara awoke slowly, stretching towards the warmth of Mikoto’s body in his half-sleeping state. Although the air in their bedroom was frigid, their shared body heat had collected beneath the blankets, and the warmth that radiated off Mikoto’s bare skin as Tatara pressed his back against his chest was more than enough to ward off the chill. Mikoto stirred at the movement, instinctively pulling Tatara’s slim frame against his own.

“Merry Christmas,” he mumbled gruffly.

“Mm… I’m surprised you even remembered~,” Tatara teased sleepily.

“How could I forget? Christmas Eve’s been all you’ve talked about for a month.”

“I never got to do all the romantic Christmas Eve stuff before,” Tatara protested with a pout. “I’m excited.”

Mikoto merely grunted in acknowledgement, then kissed the top of his head.

“I want to give you your present anyway.”

“Is it a stupid Christmas jumper?” Mikoto raised an eyebrow warily.

“ _No…_ I did buy you a Christmas jumper, but it’s not your present.”

Mikoto groaned reluctantly.

“Come on. Anna will love it.”

Mikoto raised an eyebrow as Tatara looked back over his shoulder at him. As innocent as he looked, Tatara could be manipulative when he wanted to be; he knew full well Mikoto’s weakness for keeping the girl happy.

It took them a long while to work up the courage to climb out of bed; the chill in the room was far less inviting than the bubble of warmth trapped beneath the quilt. Eventually though, Tatara finally gathered the willpower to scurry into the bathroom, towing Mikoto along behind him. As quickly as he could, Tatara hopped into the bathtub and turned on the shower to take shelter from the cold beneath the hot water. Mikoto rolled his eyes, standing beneath the spray with him and wrapping his arms around his waist until he felt him stop shivering.  

Once Tatara had thawed out somewhat, he set about washing Mikoto’s hair as he did every morning (provided Mikoto got out of bed in time), and Mikoto returned the favour, listening to his partner hum under his breath as he massaged the strawberry-scented shampoo into his scalp.

Once they were clean, Tatara wrapped himself up in a towel and continued to take refuge from the cold in the bathroom, where the air was warm and thick with steam, as he sent Mikoto out to close the window in their bedroom.

“Maybe you wouldn’t get so cold if you had some meat on you,” Mikoto pointed out when he returned, tracing the pronounced outline of Tatara’s collarbone. Tatara merely stuck his tongue out in response.

Once their bedroom had warmed up to a more acceptable temperature, Tatara finally ventured out to get dressed. As he stepped through into the main room, he inhaled deeply, then let out a satisfied sigh.

“It smells like Christmas in here.”

“Christmas doesn’t smell like anything.”

“Grinch~,” Tatara teased, then he gasped in protest as Mikoto began pulling open the drawer that contained his t-shirts.

“What?”

“You gotta wear this!” Tatara sounded aghast as he retrieved a carrier bag from the wardrobe and thrust it into Mikoto’s hands. Mikoto regarded the bag wearily as he removed the garment it contained and held it up to the light with a suspicious look on his face. The sweater was knitted from bright red wool, patterned with a variety of festive paraphernalia sewn in white- Christmas trees, stars, snowflakes, but perhaps more unexpected…

“Why’re there lions on it?”

“I know they aren’t strictly Christmassy, but Anna saw it and she just pointed at it and went ‘Mikoto’ and I couldn’t _not_ buy it.”

Mikoto rolled his eyes.

“Hey, you should be thankful. I was originally intending to get you one with pompoms on it.”

A brief look of disgust flickered across Mikoto’s face, then he donned the jumper with a sigh. Tatara gave a little nod of satisfaction before pulling on his own, knitted from cream-coloured wool and decorated with holly leaves sewn in shiny thread.

“Why don’t you have a ridiculous one?”

“I have plenty of ridiculous ones, I just wanted to wear this one today.”

Mikoto sighed once more, but the sour look in his face quickly vanished as Tatara trotted over and tiptoed in front of him to steal a kiss.

“My sleeves are too long,” Tatara complained with an exaggerated pout as he sank back down onto the flats of his feet, raising his arm in front of his face and watching the hem flop down over the end of his fingertips.

“Cute.”

“Shh.”

Mikoto pressed a kiss to his flushed cheek, then headed downstairs into the bar.

Izumo had been much more pliable to Tatara and Anna’s puppy eyes than Mikoto had, and as a result, the main area of the bar was dripping with a veritable explosion of Christmas decorations far more extensive than the ones upstairs. The immense, fat pine tree in the corner of the room was so tall that the star that topped it brushed the ceiling, and its every branch was laden with gold tinsel and fairy lights and glittering red ornaments. The only surface untouched by decorations was the bar itself, which was where Izumo had put his foot down.

Anna was sitting in the corner of the room with Rikio when the pair reached the bottom of the stairs, and her face lit up at the sight of them. She got quickly to her feet and hurried over to where they stood, wearing similarly Christmassy attire to Tatara’s- her jumper was also cream coloured, embroidered in places with scarlet patterns that matched her red skirt.

“Merry Christmas Anna!” Tatara called, dropping to a crouch and opening his arms for her to run into them for a hug.

“Merry Christmas,” she replied with a faint smile. Christmas was the time of the year she always seemed happiest- perhaps it was the abundance of crimson decorations adorning every building, but either way, Tatara wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Here, we have a little something for you,” he said with a grin, leading her back over to the couch to take a seat and nodding to Mikoto, who handed her the gift bag he’d brought down. Anna peered into it curiously, lifting out the first package, wrapped in shiny pastel pink paper. Taking care not to tear the wrappings, she peeled them back to reveal a heavy, hardback photo album. She lifted the cover to peer inside, then said quietly: “It’s empty?”

Tatara tapped his nose, nodding towards the gift bag resting between her feet, and Anna lifted the second package out of it and unwrapped it in the same careful manner as she had the first. As the paper fell away, a look of understanding crossed her face; the second gift was a polaroid camera.

“Now you can make your own memories.”

Anna’s smile widened as she stared at the box in her hands, then she set it down beside her and got to her feet to hug them both in turn. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, my princess,” Tatara returned her smile with a grin of his own, and over the top of the girl’s head, he could see the corner of Mikoto’s lips turned upwards slightly.

Tatara then set about handing out gifts to the rest of the clan: a new silk scarf for Izumo, a pair of designer sunglasses for Rikio, a GoPro for Misaki that the whole clan had chipped in to get for him to film his skateboarding tricks…

Meanwhile, Mikoto sat with Anna as she removed her new camera from its box and perused the instruction manual, then set about putting in the film. By the time Tatara had finished handing out presents, she’d set up her gift, and she called out to him:

“Totsuka.”

He trotted over and knelt in front of her. “Yes, sweetie?”

“I want my first picture to be of you and Mikoto.”

“Of course.”

Tatara pulled Mikoto to his feet, then wrapped his arm around his waist as Anna raised the camera to her eye.

“Smile.”

The flash went off, leaving Tatara with spots swimming in front of his eyes, and the camera spat out a square of paper. Anna watched the image emerge from the black film, then slid the photograph into the first polythene pouch of the album.

“Thank you,” she said again, regarding the photograph with a small, fond smile. “I have gifts for you, too,” she announced, then disappeared into the back room of the bar before re-emerging with a large shopping bag, from which she drew two boxes of chocolates. The candies were homemade- she’d spent the entirety of the previous day in the kitchen crafting a box full for every member of the clan.

“They look amazing, Anna!” Tatara said with a grin as he removed the lid and popped one into his mouth. “Mmm, they taste it too. Thank you.” He pressed a grateful kiss to her forehead, and she smiled in response, then set about handing around the rest of the chocolates to the other clansmen.

 

Mikoto and Tatara spent most of the day at the bar as they normally did, though the atmosphere was far more festive than usual as the clansmen exchanged gifts and well-wishes. Even Misaki had been peer-pressured into wearing an ugly Christmas jumper, and Anna spent the day handing out her chocolates whenever someone turned up. On more than one occasion, Tatara had retrieved his guitar to play a few Christmas songs, and while Mikoto usually made a point of being irritated by festive music, he seemed significantly less annoyed when it was Tatara singing them.

Once darkness had fallen, the streets outside the bar began to hum with activity as people emerged from their homes to celebrate the festivities, and as if to top off the perfect day, Tatara spotted a few snowflakes catching in the light of a streetlamp out of the window.

“King!” he called excitedly, and Mikoto looked up blearily- he appeared to have been dozing off.

“Hmm?”

“It’s snowing!”

Mikoto followed his gaze out of the window, then chuckled and ruffled his hair. “So it is.”

 

As the evening began to deepen, Tatara wrapped himself up in the warmest coat he owned and donned his hat, scarf, gloves, and boots before finally declaring he was ready to head out. When Mikoto had simply shrugged on the thin black jacket he usually wore, Tatara had protested:

“King, it’s freezing out there!”

“Totsuka. I’m the Red King. I don’t get cold.”

Tatara huffed, but decided there was no point in arguing with him. He removed one glove, twining the fingers of his bare hand with Mikoto’s, and they stepped out into the snow together. The flurry had thickened by now, and a thin coating of fresh powder crunched beneath their feet as they walked down the road towards the park in the city centre. Even this far out, every lamp post sported a brightly coloured flashing decoration, and every business had tinsel hanging in their windows.

“King?”

“Hmm?”

“My lips are cold.”

Mikoto rolled his eyes at the cheesy line, but indulged him with a quick kiss anyway.

They made their way slowly to the park, and if it was possible, the scene there was even more beautiful. Every tree was heavy with glittering lights, and an outdoor ice rink had been set up in the centre of the playing field, where couples skated around hand in hand. Around the edge of the park, a few crafty street food vendors had set up their stalls, and the enticing smell of hot fried snacks drifted around on the cool winter breeze. Tatara promptly towed Mikoto over to one of the stands to buy them each a hot drink, a bowl of oden, and a piece of Christmas cake, then they found a bench beneath the cherry trees full of lights to brush the snow off and sit down on. Tatara snuggled up to Mikoto’s side as they warmed themselves with their purchases, watching the skaters on the ice glide around the rink.

“Oh, I have your present,” Tatara said suddenly, extracting an envelope from the inner pocket of his coat and handing it to Mikoto.  Mikoto raised an eyebrow in curiosity then tore it open and lifted out the slips of paper it contained.

“Airplane tickets?”

“I figured you haven’t been on a proper holiday before, so I thought it’d be nice to go on a couple’s break to Amami Oshima. It’s supposed to be really nice there. The hotel’s all booked as well.”

“You shouldn’t have spent this much money on me.”

“It’s fine; I was saving up for something like this. Besides, I’m not exactly opposed to a long weekend in a romantic hotel by the beach.”

Mikoto rolled his eyes, but kissed him on the forehead. Tatara could tell by the small smile on his lips that he was looking forward to the trip, despite his protests.

“Thanks. I’ve got your present too,” Mikoto said, then reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box wrapped in red paper (clearly by someone other than Mikoto- it was far too neat to have been done himself).

Tatara took it with a smile, turning the package in his hand before unpicking the wrappings to reveal a velveteen ring box.  

“Before you get excited, it isn’t an engagement ring.”

Tatara giggled, then opened the box to reveal an earring for his helix piercing, crafted from rose gold. On its outer surface were engraved the words: “I’m yours,”- the words Mikoto had said to him when they first got together.

“King… it’s beautiful…” He threw his arms around Mikoto’s shoulders, blinking back the tears that stung his eyes. He’d been thinking about replacing the one he usually wore- the grey metal had become tarnished over the years- but he didn’t know Mikoto had actually taken note of the time he’d mentioned it.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

It took Tatara a while to finally unwind his arms from around Mikoto’s neck, and when he did, he stole a kiss before tucking himself under his shoulder again.

Ever since they’d gotten together, Tatara had been excited to spend Christmas Eve with Mikoto. He’d loved Shizume City’s Christmas lights for as long as he could remember, but everyone else who came out to see them had been with their significant other, and watching them on his own wasn’t quite the same.

But now he was with Mikoto, the way the building fronts were illuminated in different colours and the way the fairy lights woven around the tree branches made them look like they’d caught hundreds of stars in their boughs seemed so much more beautiful. The cold wasn’t as biting as he remembered; the stands of street food smelled more appetising; the colours were brighter. It just felt so… tranquil, as if everything was right with the world. And to top it off, snowflakes fluttered gently down around them, catching in Mikoto’s hair and on his eyelashes. He looked so beautiful in the cold; Tatara had never seen him blush before, but the chill in the breeze could coax colour into even Mikoto’s cheeks, and the twinkling lights reflected off his irises, making his eyes shine.

It took Mikoto a moment to notice that Tatara was staring at him, but when he finally did, he quirked an eyebrow questioningly at him, and Tatara felt his cheeks warm, abashed.

“What?”

“Just thinking about how pretty you are, and about how I’m the luckiest guy in the world~,” Tatara replied with a smile.

“Nah, that’s me.”

Tatara had been about to protest when Mikoto cupped his cheek, his hands still warm even in the depths of the winter chill, and whatever he’d been about to say caught in his throat and vanished as Mikoto leaned in to press their lips together softly.

Tatara decided he could get used to spending Christmas like this.


End file.
